Harewood Park

Harewood Park
Former farm buildings on the estate, now converted into residential accommodation
Type	Rural estate
Location	Harewood End, Hereford, England
Coordinates	51°56′58″N 2°41′04″W / 51.9495°N 2.6844°W / 51.9495; -2.6844Coordinates: 51°56′58″N 2°41′04″W / 51.9495°N 2.6844°W / 51.9495; -2.6844 (grid reference SO529280)
Area	900 acres (360 ha)
Operated by	Duchy of Cornwall

Harewood Park is a rural estate of 900 acres (360 ha) in Herefordshire, England, which has been owned by the Duchy of Cornwall since 2000. It is located roughly midway between Hereford and Ross-on-Wye.

The land at Harewood Park was part of a royal hunting estate, which was granted by King John to the Knights Templar of the nearby village of Garway in 1215. By 1312 it was recorded as containing a hall, grange and chapel. After the Knights Templar were disbanded, the estate passed to the Knights Hospitaller until the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII. The land was then sold, first to the brothers Robert and Hugh Thornhill and then, in 1547, to the Browne family who built a large house on the site. Around 1651-54, the house was bought by Bennet Hoskyns MP, who had the unusual distinction of both being appointed a High Sheriff under Cromwell, and later being made a baronet by Charles II. The estate remained in the ownership of the Hoskyns family for almost 300 years.

In 1781 the Tudor house was demolished and a new house, set in parkland with terraced walks, was built on the site. The house was again substantially rebuilt in 1839 by the 7th Baronet, Sir Hungerford Hoskyns, who had built an 11-bay, three-storey entrance front, featuring a grand porch with Tuscan columns, and two wings. The chapel was rebuilt in 1862. The declining fortunes of the family resulted in the house being sold in 1941 to the Trustees of Guy's Hospital. It was used as an auxiliary hospital during World War II, but was deemed surplus to requirements after the war. The building decayed, its fixtures and fittings were sold off in 1959, and the shell of the house was used for demolition practice by the Royal Engineers. A modern bungalow, described as "wildly inappropriate", was built on the site in the 1960s.